It's the 80's- a decade with no morals, where everybody's screwing someone- literally and figuratively. Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) is a millionaire married to ghastly snob, Barbara Stone (Bette Midler), and he is hoping to inherit her fortune after he kills her. But on the very day he is about to do the dirty deed, Barbara has already been kidnapped by two vindictive former colleagues of Sam who were exploited by him and who want the cut of money that's rightfully theirs as the ransom, otherwise Barbara will be killed. The kidnappers are blissfully unaware that this means party-time for Sam.

In what is one of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker's more down to Earth comedies (compared to any of their Airplane or Naked Gun films), it is certainly the quotes that make the film one of the most feelgood tongue-in-cheek, pitch black comedies ever made. When I say pitch black comedy, consider this one-sided phone dialogue between Sam Stone and a pet salesman. Now that Barbara has gone, Sam is basically planning to kill her favourite pet dog, Muffy who he has long hated.

Sam: "Attack dogs yes..... do they just attack people or can you get them to attack little dogs? (pause)... well what if you starve them for a while?......"

Part of the major charm of the film is the way that the characters are so mismatched. The short and stocky little Danny Devito, who is so weasly seems such an unlikely candidate for murdering his wife, so when he first walks to the door of his house with chloroform in hand and a cruel sneer as he says as evily as he can "Barbara dear, I have something for you", it is hilarious. His pathetic demear coupled with his sing-song sense of humour allows us to slightly feel sorry for him when it all goes wrong for him in the end.

Similarly the viciously snobby and obese Barbara makes a very unlikely damsel in distress, and I always get a kick out of her first complaint about being locked in the basement by her captors "Oh Jesus Christ! It smells like a toilet in here!", and likewise her kidnappers, the couple Sandy (Helen Slater) and Ken Kessler (Judge Reinhold) are hopelessly inassertive against their mercilessly bullying captive, for the simple reason that they are not ruthless people at all and have too many guilt complexes.

There's a charming scene where Ken, who works at a music store is trying to sell some mediocre speakers to a young Motley Crue fan by means of false advertising and phoney rad-speak, and just as he's won the young kid's trust and a near purchase, the guy's pregnant girlfriend comes round the corner and all of a sudden Ken has to stop himself before he cheats these underdogs out of their money. This is really why Ken and Sandy have the kind of good-spiritedness as characters that makes us want to root them on and no-one else. They are the passion of the film, the tears, the anger, the warm hug after a stressful day, and the determined shout when it looks like it will all go to pieces and they'll both get caught "I'm not going to jail! I'm not going to jail!"

This is more the kind of comedy that strikes me as very funny when I think back to it, rather than one that tickles me as I watch it. Maybe its the fact that I've seen this film so many times, or I've seen other comedies since in which the timing and delivery are better and there are no jokes that go off target that makes this seem less spectacular by comparison each time I see it. Maybe the contrast between the police officers at Sam's address discussing how to treat the 'bereaved' Sam sensitively when he comes out of his room, and then we cut to Sam in his room drinking Champagne and dancing to music, as a moment it is a bit too clever and self-assured for its own good now that I look back on it.

Yet there are still the priceless moments that will always make me laugh whenever I see them. Such as when Sam arranges with the police a phoney ransom drop in a seedy downtown. A desperate mugger by chance approaches him and holds him at knifepoint, demanding his rings and rolex. The undercover police surrounding them pull their guns and the bemused mugger declares "this guy sure got some neighbourhood watch!"

And then there's my favourite quote of all, when Barbara realises that Sam has failed to make any of the ransom drops and that the kidnappers have responded pitifully by simply lowering the ransom for him, and she is heartbroken at being 'marked down' and whimpers with tears in her eyes "I've been kidnapped by.... K-Mart!"

The film is primarily so feel-good because its such a powder-cake of characters who are dirty on the side, but basically likeable people. And also because the main plight of the sympathetic characters is so peppered with harsh adversity, but they prevail nontheless. Sandy and Ken Kessler's 'moments' with their kidnapee Barbara is often characterised by Barbara's violent tantrums, physically and psychologically beating on them viciously in an anarchic manner that is cruelly funny, which is a good thing as those scenes could have simply been cruel. It is the poor Sandy -the film's most sensitive character- who suffers the worse to her abuse who we are most sympathetic to. And by an uncontrived -if not strictly believeable- chain of events Barbara comes to befriend them both fondly and works together with them against her husband.

Similarly the inclusion of a psychotic serial killer, known as the 'Bedroom Killer' -one of the most volatile psychos ever seen on Cinema- is a reassuring mis-match against these poor inassertive and hapless souls. And of course this is the kind of character that we would find in harrowing 80's horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street or The Hitcher - a character well renouned for spelling death and misery, and particularly for spelling tragedy to loving couples as one of the lovers will usually be their murder victim. But not in this film. His demise is surprisingly quick and he is lamented with another joke.

The Bedroom Killer gets inside the Kessler's house and Barbara is the first to come across him. She naively smiles at him "Oh hello! Are you a friend of Ken's?". He glares at her, completely crazed and says "You look just like my mother..." she smiles, perhaps flattered, but then he turns ugly, raises his knife to her and hisses "I hate my mother!". As he chases her, Ken comes round the corner and is greeted likewise "You look just like my father! I hate my father!!!"..... a few moments later, having incapacitated the killer, Barbara looks from the Bedroom Killer to Ken and declares "So if I look like his mother and you look like his father, then this is what our son would look like. Pretty strong argument for birth control, huh!"

At the end of the film, we see Ken on a sunny beach with a suitcase full of money meeting a beautiful, in summer-wear and overjoyed Sandy with a hug and the pre-requisite upbeat 80's film ending music in the background, and then the less picturesque and obese Barbara comes along to make it a group hug, struggling to catch up with them in her high heels -looking completely mismatched to the Hollywood happy ending scene, but is welcomed by them anyway and its just a great, tongue in cheek ending.

The film is professionally made with breathing room shots and an enticing polished and lightly colourful 80's yuppie decor, whilst outdoor scenes are bright and summery. The 80's soundtrack is hip and groovy without being intrusive or cheesy (well at least not cheesy in a bad way). The performances are very enthusiastic and convey a sense that this movie was a lot of fun to make, and the pacing is nice and brisk without tripping up, with some incidental but welcome and tongue-in-cheek suspense to keep the audience on its toes. A great film for involking good spirits. The film contains some sex scenes and nudity, some brutal cartoon physical violence, but to be honest I'm sure it was the obscene language (particularly that fellatio wrong number gag) that confirmed the film's R-rating.

This is my entry into dbcint's "Quotes that make the Movie" - Write-Off

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age